Man Overboard in Oklahoma

Guntersville Lake, Alabama

Hubby christened our trip west by falling into Lake Eufaula, in Checotah, Oklahoma… nothing was hurt but his pride and his cellphone. We’ve been on the road for near a week. We left Florida last Monday, spent three days at Guntersville State Park in Alabama. It is a great park with a golf course and big lodge high on a cliff overlooking the lake. Our RV was parked lakeside and Hubby had 2 days of the best bass fishing ever. Thursday he thought he must have caught 50 bass, with many of them in the 5 or 6 pound range. He was a happy camper. We also had beautiful sunsets and lots of wildlife to entertain us. We will definitely be back to this spot.

We watched the Herons fish…

…and the sun set

We headed west through Arkansas into Oklahoma, ready for a few more days of hot bass fishing on Lake Eufaula before we hit a dry spell in Monument Valley and Utah. We took I40, so the drive was quick and easy and we arrived in the early afternoon. The people working at the park were beyond helpful, finding us a spot that would be easily accessible to the lake, even going so far as to drive to the site with us to make sure we were settled ok. The man at the marina gave us maps of the lake and lots of advice on fishing spots suitable to our canoe. Oklahoma definitely gets our friendly people award. But, back to Hubby’s unexpected swim.

On Lake Eufaula, pre-dunking

The morning was beautiful, sunny, cool and calm. I dropped Rich off at the boat launch, helped him get loaded and launched and headed off to walk one of the park’s trails. An hour and a half later I’m back at camp, sitting outside enjoying my breakfast when a pick up truck pulls up and drops off a very wet, shoeless Hubby who tells me he fell overboard. Long story, short: he snagged a good one, was setting the hook to the side, the canoe tipped and he fell out. The boat didn’t capsize, he lost his boots and the rod he was holding, and he was close enough to shore to swim the boat in, regroup and head back to the marina. As I mentioned, his cell phone was drowned, so he couldn’t call me for a pick up, but one of those friendly Oklahomans, was fishing at the pier and she offered to drive him back to camp when she heard what happened. She laughingly told me “men will go to the craziest lengths just to get a new pair of fishing boots.”

Hundreds, maybe a thousand fishing trips have been made in that canoe without incident. Hubby viewed it as a wake up call, a need to be ever vigilant. The lake could have been colder, deeper, or he further from shore. He got back up on the horse today, fished and caught without any more adventures. He even went back to the scene of the crime and trolled for the rod that went overboard with him. He retrieved it on his second pass. So I guess we are good to go for the rest of our travels.